The University of Iowa has approved a new employment policy expected to improve working conditions for the nearly 280 lecturers employed at the university.

The policy outlines new rules for UI colleges that employ non-tenure-track faculty who are engaged primarily in the teaching mission of the university but not necessarily in the research mission.

A two-year study found that lecturers and other instructional faculty at UI had unclear workload expectations, inconsistent pathways to promotion, no representation on the Faculty Senate and lacked access to faculty dispute procedures.

"The lecturers were looking for some sense of stability," said Christina Bohannan, a law professor and former chair of the UI Faculty Senate.

Under the new policy, those non-tenured faculty members are granted representation on the Faculty Senate, grievance rights, more transparent expectations for workload and specific pathways to promotion.

Under the policy, the title "lecturer" would be the first rank of instructional faculty. The colleges could choose to add additional ranks, including associate professor and full professor of either instruction or practice.

In addition to support from the Faculty Senate, the policy also has been vetted by the members of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

“This policy — or something like it — is necessary,” said Lois Cox, a clinical law professor who chairs the UI AAUP’s Committee A. “The nature of lecturer employment up to now has just made it way too easy for people to be exploited.”

University officials are touting the policy as an example of effective shared governance between the Faculty Senate, the Office of the Provost and the Council of Deans.

Cox said she had two goals when reviewing the policy: First, to ensure that it gives “our lecturer colleagues better terms and conditions of employment.” Second, “to make sure that, in doing so, we didn’t create a sort of bargain-basement tenure track by making it cheap, easy and not necessarily permanent to hire faculty to do the teaching.”

Cox noted that the main area not addressed by the new policy is the generally low salary being offered to lecturers and other instructional faculty.

“It doesn’t help at all with pay,” Cox said. “I guess you could say it opens the possibility of longer-term employment and promotion, generally leads to better pay, but in fact the policy is silent on pay.”

UI officials said that the policy does include some help with overall compensation -- providing salary equity, automatic salary bump with promotion and receipt of benefits that are identical to faculty in other tracks.

"However, an important point of clarification is that no faculty policy (e.g., Tenure-Track or Clinical-Track) addresses faculty salary," UI's associate provost for faculty, said via email.

Although she views the policy as a needed step forward, Cox said she also worries about whether the variety of new, non-tenure track faculty options on campus risks jeopardizing “the centrality of the role of tenured faculty.”

“I believe, and I think most people at the university believe, that there is an important connection between research and teaching, and I didn’t want this policy to do anything to upset that balance,” she said.

The new policy mandates a review within five years of implementation. At that time, the Faculty Senate will appoint a special committee to review the effectiveness of the policy across campus.

Cox said the five-year review is necessary to address any unintended consequences.

The policy was discussed Wednesday during a meeting of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Iowa Board of Regents. Although their approval was not a requirement, committee members spoke in support of the policy.

The UI Provost’s Office will work this summer with the university's various colleges to draft college-specific versions of the policy — which the colleges are expected to vote on and implement over the course of the 2016-17 academic year.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.